All posts by Midnightschildren

“No changes from the last draft is good and bad, emailed Media Alliance Executive Director Tracy Rosenberg. Privacy advocates are glad the AG rejected many business requests that would have weakened CCPA but “disappointed that a few changes we recommended were not incorporated, including to accept browser do-not-track requests as opt outs.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office is gearing up to enforce the state’s landmark internet privacy law, despite pleas from business groups that say they aren’t ready because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The California Consumer Privacy Act gives people the power to tell companies not to sell their personal data and to demand they delete the information altogether. The law took effect Jan. 1, but enforcement was delayed until July 1 to give businesses time to prepare for a mountain of data requests from their customers.

218 groups, including industry, local governments, and human rights nonprofits, have written to Congress to insist that access to affordable broadband must be a part of upcoming stimulus packages.

The letter states:

Broadband enables people to work remotely, access medical care, and apply for governmental benefits. As all levels of education transition to online for the forseeable future, reliable Internet access is necessary for students to be successful. Like food, water and electricity, everyone needs broadband during this unprecedented crisis.

67 social justice groups, including Media Alliance, demanded that the FCC require the provision of free telephone calls from jails and prisons during the COVID-19 public health crisis. The groups pointed to the FCC’s Connect America pledge and asked why the prison telephone companies were not asked to help “keep America connected” during the crisis.

The letter states:

Incarcerated people are not able to socially distance while inside, and therefore are most vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. Moreover, in conditions where communications are limited, unjust practices may occur because incarcerated people are unable to communicate about dangerous crowding or lack of access to medical care. Adequate communications are a matter of civil rights and public health.

We’ve written a lot about the adoption and implementation of CCPA, California’s state privacy law. We’ve told you about industry’s attempt to water the law down and the successful fight of privacy advocates to keep that from happening. We’ve told you about the loopholes that remain in this game-changing law.

Now, the novel coronavirus is raising the stakes once again. Sorely needed contact tracing is a service big tech is rushing to provide, and privacy protections are a seeming inconvenience.

But long after the spread of COVID-19 is contained, the data trove collected of our movements and associations will remain as an asset of great value to the companies, and a threat to our control over our personal information.

We’re highlighting this report from Access Now (lead author Estelle Masse) because it is one of the best summaries we have seen for how society can use data to fight COVID-19 without dumping privacy protections overboard.

Chock full of case studies (the good and the bad) and sensible recommendations.

Privacy advocates, including Media Alliance, commented on the second iteration of operational rules for the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which the AG hopes to begin enforcing on July 1, 2020.

The statewide coalition of privacy groups asked the AG not to back down on the start of the enforcement period, as some industry groups have asked, to require more transparency from data brokers, to enforce do not track software as equivalent to a filed opt-in request and to prevent service providers from forming comprehensive customer profiles.

955 California not for profit organizations wrote to Governor Newsom and the California Legislature asking the state to support California’s nonprofits through the emergency public health situation brought about by COVID-19.

The letter asks for public contracts with nonprofits to be honored even if non-performance is inevitable due to the disruptions caused by the virus, to make emergency funds available for nonprofits to maintain their operations and to extend protections from utility shutoffs and evictions to nonprofit organizations.

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Webinar: How To Stop The Lies and Hate on Facebook – June 10

The web we are caught in is fed by viral disinformation. Nowhere is this more acute than on the world’s biggest social media platform, Facebook. Sure you can #DeleteFacebook, but you can’t delete the impact it has on the world around you.

We’re pleased to host this conversation at 11am on June 10th, with Jeff Chester, ED of the Center for Digital Democracy, Carmen Scurato, Senior Policy Counsel at Free Press and the Change The Terms Coalition, Fadi Quran, Campaigns Director at Avaaz, and the #ProtestFacebook coalition.